According to the material, who owns coal?

• A. The coal authority
• B. The landowner
• C. The Crown
• D. Miners' cooperative

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that coal is a mineral resource controlled by a specific government body rather than by the landowner. In this framework, the Coal Authority holds the rights to coal beneath land and is responsible for licensing mining and managing coal resources. The landowner may own the surface, but the minerals—like coal—are owned by the state and administered by the Coal Authority. This is why the correct answer is the Coal Authority: it is the entity empowered to own and manage coal, rather than the landowner or a private group. The other options don’t fit because a landowner does not automatically own coal, and a miners’ cooperative is not the owner under this system; while the Crown holds ultimate sovereignty over mineral resources, the practical owner and manager of coal rights is the Coal Authority acting on behalf of the Crown.